|
Table of content:
Declining basis of sustainability
Russian NGOs Forest Club and Students' nature protection organization of Karelia publicized at the end of February in Petrozavodsk the results of the project of mapping of the undisturbed forests of Karelia. Project included research of regional public awareness and vision of forest protection and use issues in Karelia. Russian NGOs worked out and presented their guidelines to achieve sustainability in regional forest sector.
According to NGOs the area of undisturbed forests of Karelia (including even lakes and swamps) not protected by national parks and zapovedniks is just 7,5 per cent of total area covered by forests in Karelia. And it keeps declining and being put at stake.
Backgrpound:
Once covering all the Europe, most European old growth virgin forests were eliminated by the lap of civilization. Right now the most significant old-growth areas are situated at Scandinavian Green Belt. Karelia, Russian Federation is among these areas.
Karelia's forests survived due to the cold war - the most significant old growth areas are at Karelia-Finnish border. But since the iron curtain raised and economical chaanges occured in Russia, the forests at the boundaries became endangered. It was especially easy for Finnish partners with a "help" of Karelian authorities to log trees providing jobs for their own workers and to save money on transportation.
Contact: Alexey Yaroshenko, Greenpeace, e-mail: alexey@greenpeace.ru
Logging with video is welcome in Moscow region forests
Greenpeace-Russia carried out very unusual action in 12 forest holdings of Moscow region. Several activists walked very close to the offices of forest rangers with 5 meters long logs and saws in their hands. No one paid attention to them at all. This action was "inspired" by the last results of checking of forest protection activities in different parts of Russia provided by the responsible bodies. According to which Moscow region was one of the most successful and safe regions. GP action demonstrated that even in the officially "safest" region one could easily cut and transport fresh logs being ignored by more than 3 thousand rangers that guard Moscow region forest holdings.
We have much more important things to care about than to deal with looking crazy guys carrying logs and making video in front of the rangers' office, - explained V.Gavrilov Chief ranger of Moscow Forest Department.
In fact In Moscow region rangers have in 10 times less amount of area under personal responsibility. Every ranger guards 550 hectares of forest. In theory they should be capable to protect such areas. According to GP the main reason of such weak forest protection is the lack of time for forest rangers to fulfill their duty. They spend all their time providing so called "sanitary logging" which is more correct to call "monetary logging" or so. Russian Federal Forest Service having mandate to protect forests in fact became one of the biggest timber harvesting enterprises in the country. It produces 17 per cent of the total amount of timber for industry purposes harvested in Russia annually. In Moscow region Forest Service harvests about 50 per cent of timber!
Regional branches of Forest Service in 1999 exported almost 450 thousand cubic meters of high quality timber. (Moscow region alone exported 75 thousand cubic meters). This figure doesn't cover timber sold through middlemen.
The only way to stop the business is to eliminate the mandate of the Federal Forest Service to conduct any logging activities by itself, - GP experts concluded.
Siberian forests for Chinese friends
Russian Agency for Social Information reported recently that Administration of Altaiskiy Kray (Southern Siberia) signed in August 1999 an agreement on cooperation with The Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. One of its paragraphs reads about joint timber harvesting and processing projects and about a launching of paper production enterprises in the region.
Organization of Young Journalists of Altay and Altay branch of the International Socio-Ecological Union asked for information in Altay Forest Department and got the confirmation that Chinese Forest Department was allowed to cut trees in Ob' river basin. Activists could not get any information about providing environment impact assessment and forest regeneration activities by the Agreement stakeholders. We also don't know whether timber will be processed in Russia or in China.
But till a business contract is not signed the situation might change.
Raw timber export getting new privileges
The last Directive of Russian Government issued in February 2000 has introduced new export duties. Forest industry lobby coming out with protests against previous directive stimulating an increase of taxes on some forest products for instance round logs likely pushed it.
New Directive is setting up a duty equal only to 5 per cent of customs price of timber. Which is two times less than a previous one.
|
![](/images/green.gif"){kind=small}
Forest Club model projects and sites
